I write this from my inner city Parisian hostel, nose still stinging from tear gas, sirens drowning out the background traffic noise.
This morning, I set out to observe and document the civil society demonstrations that were planned to take place despite the French Government's ban on protests of "two or more people with a political message".
Today, our COP 21 delegate Florence Reynolds was published in the NZ Herald, sharing her views on the civil disobedience she witnessed firsthand in Paris on Sunday.
The fast made me slow. Unable to concentrate, I moved around the convention centre on fossilised legs. The slowmotion state of blood pumping insufficient sugar throughout my circulation felt like a form of death. But death itself was moving too slowly to be lethal. When I stood to give a speech it felt hollow, a cliché reflection of my stomach.
Today was the first day of COP21. We left our hostel at 6:30am and caught the train to Le Bourget in the dark. Apologies at this stage for the brief and possibly bland blog – I am already seriously suffering from the effects of a COP sleep schedule.
Once inside the venue, I somehow managed to get separated from my delegation by walking into a restricted area with heads of State, and then spent an hour trying to find my way around the massive conference centre using the few and far between, unoriented maps. Finally I arrived at the 8am meeting room for the Spokescouncil of YOUNGO (the youth constituency of the UNFCCC).
This blog first appeared on dontgoagainsttheflo.
In Paris the recent attacks are on the forefront of everyone’s minds, the default topic of conversation, source of many jokes, and practically the sole news item. I arrived on Saturday, a week after the attacks. A group of 10 young people sat in the small Parisian apartment, around a table with beers. This was a scene that could have been from anywhere in the world. Except everyone knew someone who had lost a friend or family member in the attacks.
